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RALEIGH — A North Carolina congresswoman under fire for calling a gay man’s beating death a “hoax” says she should have selected her words more carefully.

Republican Rep. Virginian Foxx said during debate in the U.S. House that the Matthew Shepard case behind a hate crimes bill was a hoax. Foxx said Shepard wasn’t killed in 1998 because he was gay but because he was involved in a robbery.

The bill approved by the House would expand a federal hate crimes law to include acts motivated by sexual orientation.